Is Yanaka Cemetery used by local families

I am planning a trip with my daughter to Tokyo to locate my grandmother's grave. She lived in Ueno ward area. Would I be able to find the family name by walking the cemetery?

I don't think it is possible.
Yanaka cemetery has more than 7,000 graves there.

You can go to the administration office and ask if the grave exist there and if so where exactly you can find it. It's the pink square at the very left in the following map. The station a the top is Nippori (south exit) and the more you go south the closer you get to Uguisudani station.
http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/reien/park/map073.html

But do note that Yanaka is not the only grave in Ueno area. Also, just because you lived there that doesn't mean you have a grave there. On the contrary, most Tokyo residents have graves outside Tokyo, sometimes in their ancester's hometown very far away. By the way, Ueno is not a "ward."

That said, the graveyard of Yanaka Reien and its surroundings is a very interesting place to enjoy a stroll. You can do some sightseeing there and search your grandmother's grave while you're at it.

I appreciate your response. What are the names of other grave sites in the Ueno area? Her last address was Senju Adachi-ku. I remember walking to the cemetery with her as a child so the family grave must be near this address.

I think it's going to be very difficult for you to find your family grave if the only information you have is "I walked there with her as a child".

My husband's grandfather, for instance, has a different last name than the grave site he is interred in. His family is actually from Akita, but his daughter's family lives in Kanagawa, and he was living with them before he died. So his daughter's husband interred him in their family grave. If you didn't know the connection, you'd have no idea he was there.

If your grandmother had a maiden name, she can be interred either under her maiden family name grave or her husband's name. Or, if her kids have a different name and a family grave, she could even be interred at their grave.

Moreover, most people who live in Tokyo aren't actually from Tokyo. If you don't remember the grave you visited as a child, it may not be your family grave if your family is from somewhere else, it could be another set of relatives.

I think the best thing would be if you could ask various family members about it and find out more information from your living relatives.

I'm sure my grandmother took me to our family grave. She was poor so we walked a lot. She took me to my mother's grave. She died the year I was born. I would like to know the names of grave sites near her address.
My plans are to locate her address and visit all the cemeteries near her last address. I left Japan in 1957 and I have no known relative to ask. This forum is my only source to gather information about my grandmother.

I wish I could give you a list of cemetaries in the vast areas you requested for, but I'm afraid I don't have the luxury to do the search. I will tell you how instead.

First of all, please note that Senju, Adachi-ku is about 5 kilos (3 miles) away from Ueno/Yanaka area. Let's look at the following map.
https://maps.google.co.jp/maps?hl=ja&rlz=1T4GGNI_jaJP588JP588&q=%E8%B6...

The pink area with the arrow is Senju today. Ueno is way south along the yellow road.

Perhaps what you can do is to contact the ward office of Adachi-ku and see what advise they might have for you.

For example, if you can get hold of your mother's or grandmother's koseki (official family registration), you may be able to track down some relatives. Things like full address of a certain year, full names and birth dates help to find old koseki.

I also wonder if they can give you information on cemetaries that existed in the year you visited one. There are dozens of cemetaries in each ku, and many of them are much newer. They are probably all listed on the phone books which are usually available at local libraries, but there is a different book for each ku. Let's say you walked 5 kilos from your home to the grave. There are seven possible ku in that range, each containing numerous graveyards.

In any case, if you are contacting the City Office, try to do this in advance to your trip so that they can take time locating the koseki or to give you advise on alternative ideas. Also, try to do this in Japanese language and have some sort of identification ready since privacy is a big deal nowadays.

Scroll down the following site for Adachi-ku City Office contact numbers. Note that they can't respond to email addresses that have things like a dot, hyphen or underscore just before the @ mark, nor to an address with two consecutive dots.http://www.city.adachi.tokyo.jp/hodo/ku/kuse/link.html

Lastly, be sure you know the kanji of the family name on the grave. Just like it is in most countries, you need to read the tombstones to finally pinpoint the grave you're looking for.

I must warn you, however, that graves that are left untended by the owner are liely to be neatly disinstalled after many years. In that case, may I suggest that your mother is in a thousand winds that blow.

http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/do-not-stand-by-my-grave-and-wee...

The grave might have been removed.
All cemeteries charge annual service fees to look after the land space. If it has not been paid years and years, the cemetery normally remove the grave.

I don't really have much advice except that do as much research online as possible. You may just come across some further information which could help you.

And good luck with finding it. It seems it means a lot to you to do so, so I hope you can find it.

Thank you for the information. I just need to try to find her. I have one more question. I will be staying near Ueno station. Would I be able to take the train to Senju, Adachi-ku?

Of course you can. Please refer to the map again. Kitasenju station is in the address of Senju, Adachi-ku. From Ueno to Kitasenju, you can either take the Hibiya Line (Tokyo Metro) or the Joban Line (JR) without changing trains. There also are direct trains from the Yanaka cemetary area.

You may also want to contact the museum of local history in Adachi-ku.
http://www15.j-server.com/LUCADACHI/ns/tl.cgi/http%3a//www.city.adachi...

There are 16 small areas with the name "SENJU". If you know a bit more, like Senju 3-chome or Senju Sakuragi I can zoom in on the map and perhaps find a cemetery or a temple. Most temples have their own cemetery.
Here is a map of the "SENJU" part of Adachi-ku. If you don't know Kanji, SENJU is the last two kanji in the KITA SENJU station name. It's the big station in the center of the map.
http://dickh.zenfolio.com/img/s12/v175/p1093929831-5.jpg

I cannot read the Japanese map. I have been looking at a map in the Adachi area with English labels. The area is sectioned with numbers. Her last address was 10 Hashidoamachi. Would her address be in the section 10? It's confusing because there are several areas labeled 10. I do not remember a river near her address. The whole Adachi area is surrounded by water. I remember walking to a nursery school, a cemetery and walking along a open area like a park. A street vendor selling baked sweet potatoes. I've looked at the satellite map, and I see small cemeteries. I appreciate all the information from this forum. I found the Adachi City office address. I will contact them to see if they can help me with the address.

I found it ! SENJU HASHIDO MACHI is at the south end of Adachi-ku along the Sumida River. It looks as if the block numbers have changed - not unusual - so 10 may be an old numbering system. The ward office should know.

http://dickh.zenfolio.com/img/s6/v139/p1094638588-5.jpg

Hcoe and Dick,

I'm pretty sure that the current 10 Senju-hashidomachi is the tiny block just above Senju Ohashi station on Dick's map. It's the block precisely where Dick's map says "SENJU."

Try searching the address on Google Map in Japanese which is
�������Z���˒��P�O
and you will see.
And then zoom so that you can jump to Google Street View and you will notice some old homes and restaurants as well as power poles that says the address ��Z���˒��P�O on them.
https://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=%E3%80%92120-0038+%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%...

There is also a vast area just on the left side of the address. This is �旧��ꒆ�w which is a junior high school that was always there since 1947, although rebuilt and renovated from time to time. The following is the school's website.
http://www.adachi.ed.jp/adach1-j/enkaku/index.html#���a�R�O�N

The big Sumida River is one of the most major rivers in Japan, so you can't miss it while living there, but perhaps you were kept away from it for one reason or another.

The reason I encourage you to visit the local history museum is because museums tend to have people working who are keen on researching the tiniest details about the town. Similarly, you may want to try visiting their local library. The central library of Adachi-ku happens to be the closest to your mother's address.
http://www.lib.adachi.tokyo.jp/english/index.html

I hope you are traveling with or hiring someone who can speak Japanese well, because I wouldn't be surprised if many of the people on that block were there since the 1950s. They might know something, although I suspect that most bars won't be opened until the evening.

Yes, there is a small area that was not clearly shown on the Yahoo map. I found the MAPION map that shows the limit lines better and it also has many building names. Unfortunately, the Senju Hashido Machi area has no numbers like the other nearby areas. Her's the link to the Mapion map.
http://www.mapion.co.jp/m2/35.77494288403728,139.804535,15

Ah, when I zoomed in closer on the Yahoo map there is a tiny 10-1 in that area. Hcoe can print these maps on his computer and take them with him.

http://dickh.zenfolio.com/img/s7/v157/p1094962269-4.jpg

There are 4 temples in the area of SENJU HASHIDO MACHI 10. (See map).

Nearest is GENCHOJI with a fairly large cemetery. It was founded in 1598
Address: Adachi-ku Senju Naka Cho 4-1

At the top of the map are 3 more.

JOGOJI has a small cememtery. It is quite new, founded in 1850.
Address: Adachi-ku Senju Naka I Cho 2-3

JIGANJI has a large cemetery. It was founded in 1314.
Address: Adachi-ku Senju 1-chome 2-9

FUDOIN is a sub temple of JIGANJI. It was founded in 1332.
Address: Adachi-ku Senju 1-chome 2-2

MAP: http://dickh.zenfolio.com/img/s7/v168/p1095235623-5.jpg

I have many leads now. The information is very helpful. I will be traveling to Senju this summer. This is a journey I have thought about for many years. Thank you.